🧭 Trump Called Accurate Reporting on Iran "Treason." His Own Intelligence Services Wrote the Report.
🧭 Morning Compass — Wednesday, May 13, 2026
The New York Times reported Tuesday on classified intelligence assessments showing that Iran has regained access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, 70 percent of its missile launchers, and roughly 90 percent of its underground missile storage and launch facilities, most of which are partially or fully operational. The same assessments found Iran has retained 70 percent of its overall missile stockpile.
Trump and Hegseth have spent three months telling the American public that Iran’s military was “decimated,” its missile program “functionally destroyed,” its navy sunk and its air force gone. On May 1, Trump said: “Iran is getting decimated. They have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft. They have no radar. They have no leaders.” The intelligence says otherwise.
Trump’s response to the Times story was to accuse journalists of treason. “When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON,” he posted on Truth Social. “They are aiding and abetting the enemy!” He then insisted Iran has “no Navy, their Air Force is gone, all Technology is gone,” and that “159 ships” now rest “at the bottom of the sea.” None of this matches what his own intelligence agencies are telling policymakers.
This is the same pattern that emerged with the hantavirus outbreak, with the redistricting statistics, and with the inflation figures. The administration states something publicly. The actual data contradicts it. The administration calls the contradiction an attack on America. The data does not change.
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While en route to Beijing on Air Force One, Trump posted a graphic on Truth Social showing a map of Venezuela with an inset American flag and the caption “51st State.” Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, speaking from the International Court of Justice in The Hague, said the idea “would never be considered.” Trump had told Fox News on Monday that he was “seriously considering” annexing Venezuela, citing $40 trillion in oil and the claim that “Venezuela loves Trump.” Trump’s forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January and have been running the country’s oil sector since. Canada, Greenland, Panama, Cuba, and now Venezuela. The list of countries Trump has publicly claimed, threatened, or suggested annexing continues to grow. At some point, it stops being rhetoric and starts being a worldview.
Trump is now in Beijing for his summit with Xi Jinping, scheduled for May 14-15. The agenda spans trade, Taiwan, the war in Iran, technology controls, rare earths, and artificial intelligence. Trump wants Chinese purchase commitments on agricultural goods, cooperation on pressuring Iran, and movement on rare earth exports. Xi wants fewer technology restrictions, a US commitment not to strengthen Taiwan's hand, and recognition of China as an equal power in shaping the global order. On rare earths, China holds 90 percent of global refining capacity and has already demonstrated it will use that leverage. Last year, when Trump imposed tariffs, China threatened to cut rare earth supplies, and Trump backed down. The Council on Foreign Relations said plainly this week: at this summit, China will have the upper hand. Xi has long told his cadres that “the East is rising and the West is declining.” The Iran war has done nothing to undermine that view. As CSIS analyst Gregory Poling noted, “It is not China being humiliated in the strait. It’s the US.”
Taiwan will be watched most carefully of all. Beijing wants Trump to soften US declaratory policy on Taiwan’s status, ideally getting him to express support for peaceful reunification or to shift language on independence. Trump has already discussed arms sales to Taiwan in phone calls with Xi, a move that has alarmed Taipei. What matters, as Leiden University professor Salvador Regilme said, is the precise wording of whatever joint statement emerges. “In great-power politics, small words often carry large consequences, especially for those whose survival depends on the credibility of others.” Taiwan is one of those.
In science news this week, research confirms what some scientists have suspected for years: insects likely feel pain. Specifically, the evidence is now strong enough that adult flies and cockroaches meet six of eight established criteria for pain experience. Adult bees, wasps, and ants satisfy four. The finding challenges the assumption that has excluded insects from animal welfare legislation and ethical debate for decades. It also has practical implications for agriculture, research laboratories, and everyday pest control. There are roughly 10 quintillion insects alive at any moment. If they feel pain, that is a significant fact about the world.
What to watch today
The Trump-Xi summit begins tomorrow in Beijing. Pre-summit economic talks between US Treasury Secretary Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are happening in Seoul today. Watch for the joint statement language, especially on Taiwan and Iran.
South Carolina’s legislature continues its redistricting debate. A vote could happen this week. Jim Clyburn’s district, one of the oldest majority-Black districts in the country, is the target.
On this day
On May 13, 1940, Winston Churchill gave his first speech as Prime Minister to the House of Commons. He had been in office three days. He told Parliament: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” He did not pretend the situation was anything other than what it was. He did not call the reports from France fake news. He said: “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory.” The contrast with a leader who calls accurate intelligence reporting treason does not require elaboration.
What I wrote
What I captured
What I’m working on
Screen Skills today, and watching the Beijing summit develop.
And I would like to know
Trump called accurate reporting on Iran’s military capabilities “virtual treason.” If you were a journalist in that briefing room, what would you ask him?
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Stumbled upon
A cat enjoying a murmuration.
And time travel to Paris in the 1920’s:
Notes and sources
Trump-Xi summit: Al Jazeera, ‘Trump and Xi to meet in Beijing: The key issues shaping the China summit’ — https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/13/trump-and-xi-to-meet-in-beijing-the-key-issues-shaping-the-china-summit
CFR, CSIS, CNBC, NBC News Iran intel leak: The Daily Beast, ‘Trump Melts Down as War Truths Exposed in Humiliating Intel Leak’ — https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-melts-down-as-war-truths-exposed-in-humiliating-intel-leak/
New York Times Venezuela 51st state: The Daily Beast — https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-bluntly-confirms-new-country-he-wants-as-51st-state/
CNN / Fox News Insects and pain: The Guardian / Science Advances research Churchill speech: UK National Archives / Hansard
videos: cat via bulvarpress, paris via loxaruzi
That cat enjoying a murmuration is too cute.
47 should only be allowed to talk about countries he can actually find on a world map ... that would solve many problems.
A war that accomplished nothing it claimed it has. The biggest byproduct of this war manufactured by a mentally deficient person is devastation to his country’s economy (which he says he doesn’t even think about), gas and food prices that increase daily, global inflation and supply and the deaths of many. America has no leadership. It’s only a rudderless ship.